Home for the Holidays (Mother-Daughter Book Club #5)
Sarah (age 9) snatched this up from our library's holiday display table, and we just finished reading it together. She loved it, and I loved reading it with her. Now she wants to go back to the beginning and read the whole series. (Don't tell: she's getting the box set for Christmas.) She's writing copycat fiction in the meantime.
More info →Geography of Memory
I ordered this immediately after hearing the author speak last April, and spent the next six months staring at it on my bookshelf, afraid to begin. I worried it would be really depressing, but the preface put my mind at ease. (The first line: "I wrote this book because I believe the news about Alzheimer's is more hopeful than what we hear on the street.")
A book about Alzheimer's, but also about mothers and daughters, understanding your past, and the power of memory. Poignant and powerful.
More info →The Book with No Pictures
My kids fell in love with this thanks to B. J. Novak's reading on Youtube. This not-quite-picture book is completely ridiculous in the best possible way. Prepare yourself to read this over and over and over again over holiday break. I don't think you'll mind (too much).
More info →The Sweetness of Forgetting
A fellow reader matched me up with Kristin Harmel's work, and I blew through two of her novels this month. It's not a perfect book—I'll be surprised if you don't guess how the love triangle resolves by page 3—but it's very good. Harmel's writing about love, family, and relationships draws you right in to the story, and then compels you to step back and examine your own life. A whole lot of MMD readers are going to love this one.
More info →